Machinery / Industrial Parts & Tools

Import and export data shows that in the first quarter of this year, the trade volume between the two sides reached 33.3 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 1.6%, with an overall stable and positive start. China's direct investment in the entire industry of Central and Eastern European countries increased significantly by 148% year-on-year, and Chinese enterprises have a strong willingness to invest in the Central and Eastern European region, Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei stated that since the establishment of the cooperation mechanism in 2012, positive progress has been made in economic and trade cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries.

At the 2021 China Central and Eastern European Leaders' Summit, China set a goal of importing over 170 billion US dollars in goods from Central and Eastern European countries over the next five years. Li Fei stated that this fully demonstrates China's positive willingness to promote trade balance and sustainable development with Central and Eastern European countries. China will adopt various methods and measures to actively promote imports from Central and Eastern European countries.

Bilateral economic and trade cooperation has made significant progress

Import and export data shows that in recent years, China and Central and Eastern European countries have made significant progress in economic and trade cooperation, and China has become an important trading partner and source of imports for Central and Eastern European countries.

Li Fei introduced that in terms of trade and investment, import and export data shows that since 2012, bilateral trade has continued to grow, with an average annual growth of 8.1%, and China's imports from Central and Eastern European countries have an average annual growth of 9.2%. Investment cooperation is becoming increasingly close. As of now, the scale of two-way investment between China and Central and Eastern European countries has reached nearly 20 billion US dollars.

Infrastructure projects have been steadily implemented. According to import and export data, in 2022, Chinese enterprises signed engineering contract amounts of 9.36 billion US dollars in Central and Eastern European countries. In July 2022, the priority section of the Montenegro North South Expressway and the Peleshatz Bridge in Croatia were successively opened to traffic. The Hungary Serbia Railway was steadily advancing, and infrastructure projects such as transportation and energy were progressing smoothly, becoming a highlight of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries.

Import and export data shows that connectivity is developing rapidly. The China Europe train has flourished, with 16000 trains operating throughout 2022, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The southbound passage has been successfully opened, providing a new plan for transportation to Europe. The construction of China EU land sea express line has been actively promoted. The throughput of Port of Piraeus in Greece ranks among the top Mediterranean ports. The port logistics cooperation between China and Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and other countries is increasingly close.

"China and Central and Eastern European countries are important partners in the joint construction of the 'the Belt and Road'. They are both in an important position in the global industrial chain supply chain. They have strong economic complementarity, smooth connectivity, and active two-way investment. These positive factors have strongly promoted the rapid development of bilateral trade." Yu Yuantang, director of the European Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said at the press conference.

According to Yu Yuantang's analysis, from the perspective of product structure, mechanical and electrical products account for about 70% of China's imports and exports to Central and Eastern European countries. This indicates that the added value and technological content of trade products between China and Central and Eastern European countries are relatively high, reflecting the high level and value of bilateral trade cooperation.

Looking ahead, the prospects for trade cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries are still very broad. China will fully tap into the potential of its super large market size, leverage the geographical advantages of the Central and Eastern European region, and focus on expanding cooperation in new fields and formats such as green, low-carbon, digital, and health beyond traditional areas, further promoting the sustainable development of trade between China and Central and Eastern European countries, "said Yu Yuantang.

Actively promoting imports from Central and Eastern European countries

It is worth mentioning that import and export data shows that China's imports from Central and Eastern European countries increased rapidly in the first quarter of this year. The products with larger amounts mainly include carbonates, lasers, essential oils, whey, corn, etc., with year-on-year growth of 1241%, 1115%, 455%, 252%, and 141%, respectively. When it comes to the goal of importing over 170 billion US dollars of goods from Central and Eastern European countries over the next five years, Li Fei expressed "confidence in achieving it". "Currently, global trade growth has significantly slowed down, but the long-term trend of China's import growth from Central and Eastern European countries has not changed.

Regarding the above goals, Li Fei said that China will actively promote imports from Central and Eastern European countries, further strengthen the platform role of exhibitions such as the Central and Eastern European Expo, China Import and Export Expo, and China Consumer Expo, and expand the visibility of Central and Eastern European products in China.

At the same time, we will continue to make good use of economic and trade cooperation mechanisms, accelerate the convening of bilateral intergovernmental economic and trade joint committees and mixed committees with Central and Eastern European countries, as well as meetings of trade facilitation and e-commerce working groups, strengthen trade policy coordination and consultation between the two sides, promote industry exchanges and communication, and promote the resolution of export demands from Central and Eastern European countries to China. Leveraging the advantages of cross-border e-commerce, we will continue to promote and improve the dialogue mechanism for e-commerce cooperation among Central and Eastern European countries in China, and assist Central and Eastern European enterprises in exporting to China more conveniently and efficiently. We will continue to encourage local leadership and demonstration, support the construction of China's Central and Eastern European countries' economic and trade cooperation demonstration zones and industrial cooperation parks with high standards in areas such as Ningbo, Zhejiang. We will carry out pilot projects in customs trade security and facilitation cooperation, attract more Central and Eastern European enterprises to invest in China, and deepen industrial integration between the two sides in the fields of automobiles, digital, green, and health.

Yu Yuantang stated that currently, China and Central and Eastern European countries have established a comprehensive and multi-level mechanism for bilateral economic and trade cooperation and exchange, providing a good guarantee for enhancing cooperation momentum and deepening cooperation space. Next, the Ministry of Commerce will deeply implement the consensus of the China Central and Eastern European Leaders' Summit, strengthen policy communication with Central and Eastern European countries, and focus on three aspects of work: first, carefully prepare for the China Central and Eastern European Countries Economic and Trade Promotion Ministerial Conference. The second is to actively convene bilateral economic and trade joint committees and mixed committees between China and Central and Eastern European countries. The third is to restart various economic and trade cooperation mechanisms and promote the resumption of offline activities.